


Chance encounter

by Silveriswriting



Series: Dream and Ink's multiverse [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: BurstTale, Fights, Ink is stupid sometimes, Snowball Fights, blue is an adult y'all, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 14:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17810162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silveriswriting/pseuds/Silveriswriting
Summary: Dream and Ink both set out to do their daily duties. A few hours and one chance encounter later, things aren't exactly going the way Dream expected today.





	Chance encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Here's another work of this new thing I'm writing. Please enjoy and have a good day! <3
> 
> Also my headcannon is that Blue can actually function like an adult, and is very mature.

Dream showed up at Ink's house in a good mood that day. He'd been feeling positive emotions throughout the morning as soon as he got up, and was ready to help those sad souls that weren't having a good time creating. He hoped Ink was the same, because whenever the artist had a bad day, he'd walk around with target signs it his eyesockets and sit somewhere trying to draw, failing and stewing in his own misery until the effects of his vials wore off. This was generally bad news for everyone.

Anyway, Dream knocked on Ink's door and awaited the response that came almost instantly. His friend was completely dressed, carrying his sash in one hand and his oversized paintbrush named Broomie in the other. His eyelights were in their usual shapes of golden star and teal oval, shining with fresh magic from his vials and the enthusiasm the yellow one brought. Dream still didn't exactly know what to feel about Ink's vials, but it was easy enough to get used to when he saw the artist practically every day. He also wondered how the other had managed to open the door without any free hands, then decided to not ask.

"Good morning Ink." Dream greeted.

"Hey Dream!" The other responded.

"So, you ready to go?" 

"Sure! Just let me get Broomie secured. Have you seen anything unusual yet?" Ink asked, slipping the sash containing his vials over his head.

"Haven't had time. But the creators are happy today, so we shouldn't have any manor problems with them." Dream said, smiling.

"Good, I'm glad! There was this person having problems with their AU, not knowing how Undyne should look like, and I want to check on them. Have you got any plans?" 

"Not really. I just want to track down a few sources of negativity and help the people who are suffering feel better."

"Ok then. Call me if you need anything." 

Dream sighed, knowing it was probably going to happen the other way around at some point, but nodded and started walking away from Ink's door and down the stone pathway that lined his companion's front yard. "Will do. You have to call me too though, ok?" 

"Of course!" Ink assured the other, skipping down the stones after Dream, and fixing Broomie onto his back while he did so. 

Dream just rolled his starry eyelights and jumped off the edge of the large island Ink's house sat on, falling through the air and landing on a smaller island about ten feet below. The colourful skeleton landed next to him and straightened beside the other. They both examined the door that stood in the centre of said island, that could tell them some basic facts about the world it guarded. Dream extended his magic towards it, trying to find anything he could help with. There was nothing, and the door didn't have any big cracks or fading that would indicate faulty codes or deteriorated timelines, do the golden-clad skeleton left his more enthusiastic companion in search for a particularly strong bout of fear coming from an AU not too far away.

He'd been quietly dealing with some panicking locals of a small village on the surface of a BurstTale timeline for no more that a few hours, when he got a call from Ink. Dream, who had been sitting on a rock on the outskirts of town with a child in his lap, jumped a bit at the not entirely unexpected but sudden sound. The starry-eyed skeleton retracted his positive aura a bit and picked up, already guessing what the issue was.

"Hi Dream!" Ink's voice came through the phone, his cheery voice somewhat distorted by space-time.

"Hello Ink. What did you do this time." Dream demanded, getting straight to the point.

"Well... nothing much really. I'm just having a snowball fight! Do you want to join in?" 

"Uh..." Dream hadn't been expecting this. "Sure...?" He agreed.

"Great! I'm in Underswap 5, pacifist timeline!" Ink responded. "Come quickly!"

Dream heard an explosion. "Ink, what was th-" The call ended. He sighed again, worrying for his companion. 

"Oh well, there's nothing for it I guess." He muttered.

"Nothing for what?" Asked the little boy in his lap, looking up at him with large, innocent brown eyes.

"I have to go help a friend." Dream explained softly. He'd been playing with the child, telling him stories from all across the multiverse, and kind of didn't want to leave.

"Aww, I don't want you to go mister skeleton!" 

Dream smiled fondly at the young boy. "I don't want to go either. But my friend is very clumsy and gets into lots of trouble if I'm not there to help him. I don't want him to get hurt, you see."

The child clung to him stubbornly for a second longer before finally letting go and sliding off his lap. He smiled up at the skeleton, holding the older one's boney hand. Dream felt his soul melt at the cuteness, and ruffled the boy's scruffy black hair before gently pulling away. As an afterthought he reached into his pocket and gave a handful of monster candy to the small boy, smiling as he did so. The child beamed back at him, and thanked Dream with a quick hug around his middle before scampering off back to the nearby village. The starry-eyed skeleton watched him go before walking off into a nearby clump of trees, seeking shelter from prying eyes before daring to open a portal. He jumped through, into Underswap 5, having already located the timeline Ink had described.

He came out in the local Snowdin, just behind the first line of trees right next to the Ruins' door. Explosions and yells greeted him as soon as he closed his portal, worrying him to no end. He quickly made his way out of the treeline and onto the main trail, leaving a trail of footprints on the pristine white snow.

But as soon as he got onto the actual path it because clear that there had been more people here, as the snow was trodden down to brown sludge in places, and bones had sunken deep into the trees and ground. He heard shouts and yells up ahead, and quickly teleported past the bridge and into the clearing where this universe's Papyrus had his sentry station. He'd easily identified the owners of the bone attacks, if their magical signatures and auras weren't enough, and Dream was now really worried for his friend.

Nightmare and Error were both in the clearing, attacking a very disheveled looking Ink. The colourful skeleton dived behind Papyrus' sentry station, firing pink paint at his attackers from Broomie's tip, and making it turn to glistening chains as soon as it splashed onto them --successfully trapping Error's arm to his side and binding two of Nightmare's tentacles together. The former hissed and reached over with his blue strings to wrap around and shatter his binds, while the latter simply dissolved the tar-like appendages and reformed them seconds later, ridding himself of the pink restraints. Neither seemed to have noticed the new arrival, and Dream thanked his lucky stars for it. Since it was fairly clear that this was a well established timeline, the creator probably didn't have any serious problems that needed Ink's immediate assistance, and Dream could rescue the other before coming back with a well formed plan and some backup. He was still wondering how Ink had managed to get himself into this particular mess, since the artist generally wasn't the type to get into a confrontation while being so blatantly outnumbered. 

But something was off. Because the next thing Dream saw was Error sending a handful of strings towards the sentry station, fishing Ink out from behind it and dropping him onto the snowy ground -- before picking up some snow that was more or less intact and chucking it at the artist's face, where it lodged firmly into one of the skeleton's eyesockets. Nightmare simply watched, and only now did Dream notice that the midnight skeleton had a snowball secured in each hand, with a tentacle curling around two more. He then fired all four in quick succession, hitting Ink every time, before conjuring a sharp bone jumping on him with it, aiming to kill. The artist knocked both his enemies with Broomie, then fled behind the station again, brush held high.

Dream teleported behind the sentry station to join Ink, praying that he wouldn't be discovered by Nightmare, who could sense auras. He of course knew that his cover would be blown very soon, but with a lot of luck and a bit of Ink's cooperation, he could get briefed on the situation. As soon as he appeared inside the station, Ink spotted him and grinned maniacally, pausing in his attempts to scoop snow out of his socket and off his clothes.

"Hey Dream!"

"Ink. What even is going on?" Dream hissed. "Snowball fights? What the hell?"

"That is an excellent question!"

"..."

Ink spotted the look on Dream's face. "Oh, I have no idea! I didn't start this and have no idea how we got to this point!" He exclaimed happily.

"I have a feeling it was very much your fault. How exactly did you plan on winning this? Or even getting out alive!"

A shadow fell over both skeletons and they looked up. Nightmare was sitting on the sentry station's counter and peering overe the edge at both of them. They gulped.

"The thing is I didn't plan anything." Ink said, answering Dream before he grabbed the other's hand and pulled them both up and away, teleporting to a nearby tree branch. Dream stumbled and nearly fell off, almost snapping his neck in the process.

"Careful!" Ink said, tugging him back. "You're not immortal." He reminded Dream, as if this was something the other forgot regularly.

"Thanks for the reminder." The starry-eyed skeleton grumbled.

However, they were distracted from any further discussion by Error, who lashed onto the tree's branches with his strings and pulled himself up to their level. The destroyer released one of his hands and reached for them with his strings, cackling. Ink dived for the next branch over, while Dream teleported to the ground, meeting Nightmare face to face. He quickly opened a small portal to his home in the doodle sphere and drawing out his staff, thanking all the positive emotions that were going around the multiverse today and would inadvertently help him. He dodged his brother's lunges and made a couple of his own with his staff as they circled each other. At one point, Ink and Error fell from the trees and broke up the fight with their own, almost knocking everyone to the ground. The four of them fought back and forth across the clearing, switching opponents at irregular intervals. 

A sudden voice interrupted them, cutting through the cold air with determination. "Hey! Stop it!" 

All of a sudden, Dream found himself unable to move. Looking around, he saw the others were in similar states of hanging upside down or holding weapons that were of no use against the hold on their souls. The newcomer was obviously very strong, and more than a little suicidal to be jumping into a confrontation with the four skeletons that had been fighting. He turned towards the source of the voice and found... Blue. The Underswap skeleton was standing with one hand on his hip, the other held high over his head and surrounded by cyan light. Dream was bewildered by Blue's frown, since the other usually sported a bright grin and had such an innocent air around him that seeing anything other than a cheery smile on his face was unusual. Error on the other hand didn't seem surprised at all, from what Dream could see of the upside down destroyer floating some distance away. 

"H3y BLuE" Error greeted the other, acting as if this was completely normal.

"Hello Error." Blue responded, curt. "Care to explain what this mess means? You're lucky Papyrus is away." 

"WeLL, InK DeciD3d tO scREw Us 0vEr AnD wE deCiDeD t0 nOT tAkE iT" Error explained factually. "Dr3Am sHoWEd uP HalF wAy, sO w3 fOUghT hiM As weLL."

Blue looked unimpressed. "Seriously? You decided to fight just for the hell of it?" 

"Pretty much. Can we go now?" Nightmare asked, out of Dream's field of vision.

"Not until I know you won't be tearing my universe up again." Blue said. "Ink. Explain yourself." He demanded.

"That's not fair! You have no proof this is my fault!" Ink complained. Everyone shot him a 'really?' look, and he grumbled. "Fine. I threw a snowball at Error."

"I assumed as much, but why?" Blue enquired.

"Well, I was bored." Ink said as if this was the obvious answer. "Also, what were Error and Nightmare doing here?" He asked. Dream couldn't see him, but he assumed Ink was at the back, and glaring at the skeletons in question.

"We're multiverse travelers just like you, Ink." Nightmare responded before anyone else could intervene.

Dream heard Ink huff, and assumed he was pouting again. "So, what now Blue?" He asked the skeleton.

"Well... since Ink seems injured and none of you look very keen on fighting again, we can just talk this out and each will go his merry way. Good?" Blue proposed.

"Aw, but-" Ink complained.

"Ink, you're injured. That's blood." Blue observed factually. "Dream, can you take care of him?"

"Of course! I'll heal him, and we'll go back." The starry-eyed skeleton agreed.

"AnD wE CaN g3t On wiTH WhAt We weRe d0inG. Me aNd NiGhTmaR3 WerEn'T eVeN Lo0KinG fOr a FigHT." Error said. "BUt tHiS w0N't sTay UnRes0LveD. We'LL bE BaCk." 

"Whatever." Ink grumbled.

"Well, I really didn't want to be here in the first place, and you can't make a very valid point Ink, you've taken the most hits and really wouldn't be able to keep on fighting." Dream called back to his friend. 

"Okay, so that's sorted out. I'll let you down." Blue said, and did just that.

Dream felt himself be lowered to the ground, and came down gently on his feet. He turned to see that the others were also standing up, Ink nursing an arm and Nightmare limping almost imperceptibly as he walked towards Blue, joined by Error. The Underswap skeleton spoke quietly with the destroyer as Dream looked on, holding up a pouting and bleeding Ink. Eventually the starry-eyed guardian saw Nightmare nod, and they all stepped away from each other. Blue waved at Ink and Dream, smiled at Error, and walked off decisively back the way he had come.

Nightmare shot Dream a look, then turned and opened a portal to somewhere. He stepped through without a backward glance, leaving Error to stare at them for a second longer before following. Only when the inky void of the portal had disappeared and he confirmed they were alone did Dream breathe freely again. He then heaved Ink up onto his feet and opened a portal of his own, leading them both through and out into the artist's front yard, right on the same stone pathway where they'd started out that morning. He closed the gateway and they both walked to the house's front door. 

Dream opened it and stepped into the large, cosy house. It was a bit messy and very colourful, familiar and full of light. He set Ink down on the couch and got a roll of bandages out from one of his pockets, as well as levitating a bottle of rubbing alcohol towards them. While he addressed the artist's wounds, Blue's peculiar behaviour came to mind.

"Ink...did you notice how Blue was acting? He seemed... mature. And like him and Error were good friends. He didn't even bat an eyesocket when Nightmare talked to him, and Nightmare is terrifying if I do say so myself." Dream said, expressing his worries and looking at Ink for his point of view.

"Well...yeah. I did notice actually. Wasn't that Blue the one Error captured and dragged to the anti-void?"

"I think so...that would explain why they seemed to know each other. Well, either way, let's just be glad he intervened, else you might have taken a worse beating." Dream mused.

Ink hummed in agreement, not saying anything. Dream finished securing his arm and stood up, taking the rubbing alcohol with him. 

"All better." He mumbled. Ink jumped up and started digging around a pile of cloth and notebooks that was next to the couch, eventually pulling out a small paintbrush.

"Dream!" He said, getting up and bounding over to his friend.

Dream turned towards the other guardian and allowed him to paint over his wounds, calming the stinging scratches and washing away any blood that clung to the bone. He thanked the artist with a smile, and set the alcohol down on the coffee table, pocketing the roll of bandages. 

"Thanks." Dream smiled at the other, who returned the gesture.

"Why don't we just forget about Blue and watch a movie?" Ink proposed.

"Sure. You were going to forget anyway though." 

"Eh. Probably." Ink shrugged, then started picking up blankets and piling them onto Dream, getting ready for movie night.

Ten minutes later and they were both wrapped up in copious amounts of blankets, with a bountiful array of snacks on the coffee table in fron of them, and the opening credits of a film chosen at random playing from the TV in front of them. Blue, Error and Nightmare forgotten, the guardians settled in for a few hours of not doing anything in particular, both looking forward to it a great deal.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. Tell me if you have any suggestions or ideas, and have a nice day.


End file.
